Three Maoists, including a member of the central committee of the banned CPI (Maoist), were killed in an encounter with security forces inside a forest in Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh district on Monday morning.

Sources said the slain central committee member was identified as Sahdev Soren, who carried a reward of ₹1 crore on his head. The operation, which was conducted by the elite anti-Naxalite CoBRA unit of the CRPF, also claimed the lives of two other Maoist commanders, Raghunath Hembram alias Chanchal and Birsen Ganjhu.

“The bodies of Sahdev Soren, who was carrying a bounty of ₹1 crore, and the other two Maoists have been recovered during the search operation,” the source said.

Sources said the encounter between Soren’s squad and the security forces took place inside the Pantitri forest under the Gorhar police station limits around 6am on Monday.

“Sahdev Soren, a central committee member of the CPI (Maoist) carrying a bounty of ₹1 crore on his head, and two other Naxals were killed in an encounter with a joint team of the CoBRA battalion in Giridih and the Hazaribagh Police based on intelligence inputs,” an official said.

“Among the other two slain commanders are Raghunath Hembram, a Bihar-Jharkhand special area committee member carrying a reward of ₹25 lakh, and Birsen Ganjhu, a zonal committee member with a bounty of ₹10 lakh on his head,” he added.

Acting on intelligence inputs about Maoist presence in the area, security forces launched the operation during which there was a fierce exchange of fire. The troops have also recovered three AK-47 rifles from the encounter site. Combing operations are continuing inside the forests and some Maoist leaders are believed to have fled
the scene.

Sources said the slain Maoists were active in the border areas of Jharkhand and Bihar for a long time and their activities were being monitored closely. “Soren is the seventh central committee member who has been gunned down by the security forces this year amid the ongoing counter-offensive against rebels across the country,” said
the official.

Searches have been intensified in the region after the encounter to locate the Maoists who escaped by taking advantage of the dense forest.

On Sunday, a Maoist was killed during a gunfight with the forces in Jharkhand’s Palamu. The deceased was identified as Mukhdev Yadav, 40, also known as Toofanji, a self-proclaimed sub-zonal leader of the banned Maoist splinter group Tritiya Sammelan Prastuti Committee TSPC.

The police said he was associated with the TSPC’s Shashikant gang and had been active across Palamu and adjoining districts for several years, allegedly involved in multiple Maoist-related and criminal incidents.

Security forces, which launched a massive operation against the Maoists across the country in September-October last year, have made repeated inroads into rebel strongholds since January, killing nearly 300 Maoists. Home minister Amit Shah has set March 2026 as the deadline to wipe out Maoists from
the country.